Brooklyn Man Accused in Sale of 49 Guns From North Carolina

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly points out a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle during a press conference announcing a gun bust at the Kings County District Attorney’s office Wednesday.

By Sarah Armaghan

A Brooklyn man accused of trafficking and selling 49 guns from North Carolina to an undercover New York City police detective has been indicted for more than 100 felonies, law-enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Christopher McPhaul, 43 years old, first became the subject of his own investigation earlier this year after police made contact with him through a separate case, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Mr. McPhaul, who went by the nickname “Country,” operated a “convenient delivery service” for guns in the Bushwick area where he resides, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said. Ten times between April and September, the undercover officer purchased the firearms — five of which had been reported stolen — for a total of $7,500, or about $153 per weapon.

Mr. McPhaul pleaded not guilty. Attorney information was not available for him Wednesday.

The suspect — who used three cell phones to conduct his illegal business — would mostly communicate through text messages, offering code language to set up sales, officials said.

“Have a lot of toys for kids,” Mr. McPhaul allegedly sent in one text message to the undercover officer, to whom Mr. McPhaul then offered to sell $2,500 worth of guns and ammunition.

Mr. McPhaul would travel often from Brooklyn to Fayetteville, N.C., where some of his family resides, to retrieve more weapons to sell, officials said. He was arrested Oct. 4 after returning from his latest trip when he was seen driving his vehicle, which had North Carolina license plates, in East New York.

Mr. McPhaul, who had a previous gun arrest in 2006 in East Flatbush, has an extensive criminal history over the past two decades, Mr. Kelly said. He was most recently arrested in Hoke County, N.C., in January for possession of a stolen firearm, according to police.

Mr. Kelly, whose department made its largest ever gun bust more than a year ago when 250 guns trafficked from North and South Carolina were seized, said those two states are the second largest source of illegal guns in New York City after Virginia.

“The statistics are not surprising to the New York City Police Department, because 90 percent of the guns that we confiscate here on our streets come from out of state,” Mr. Kelly said. “And they surface in the neighborhoods that can least afford to have them on their streets; the neighborhood that are most at risk.”

Currently remanded to Rikers Island without bail, Mr. McPhaul faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted on the top charge of first-degree criminal sale of a firearm.